The notification of the sons of Louis the Pious took place in 870; the
reconciliation of Henri IV. of Germany with his sons occurred in 1105;
St. Bernard preached the Crusades here before a vast congregation,
recruiting for the army for the East over one thousand citizens of
Coblenz alone.
Near the church of St. Castor is the house of the Teutonic Order, of
fine Gothic design, but to-day turned into a military magazine.
On a hill overlooking the city was the famous Chartreuse convent, the
ruins of which are now swallowed up by Forts Constantine and Alexander.
The bridge which crosses the Moselle at this point is in itself a
wonderful old relic. It spans the river on fourteen arches, and dates
from 1344, save that its watch-tower was built at a later day.
The bridge of boats which crosses the Rhine, on thirty-six pontoons,
partakes of the same characteristics as its brother at Mayence,
though by no means is it so celebrated.
[Illustration: COBLENZ _and Its BRIDGE_]
Above Coblenz the Rhine narrows considerably, and the mountains and
hilltops draw in until one's progress, by water, is almost as if it were
through a cañon.
Niederlahnstein has a fine ruined church in St. John's, whence it is but
a short distance to Boppart.
_Boppart_
Boppart was the ancient _Bandobriga_ of the Romans, and, like many
another place along the Rhine, is closely linked with the memory of
Drusus.
Boppart was made an imperial city, and many Diets were held within its
walls.
The Hauptkirche, with its twin-jointed spires, was built about the year
1200.
It is thoroughly Romanesque, if we except the spires which are linked
together by a sort of galleried vestibule, after a manner that is
neither Romanesque nor anything else.
The inside galleries over the aisles (_männerchöre_) are interesting,
though by no means a unique feature in Rhine churches.
There is a queer intermixture of pointed and round-headed arches in both
the nave and choir, but nothing to indicate that it was anything but a
Romanesque influence that inspired the builders of this not very
appealing church.
The vestibule which joins the spires, and the most unusual groining of
the vaulting of the body of the church, are two features which the
expert will linger over and marvel at, but they have not much interest
for the lay observer who will prefer to stroll along the river-bank and
pick out charming vistas for his camera.
The convent of Marienburg, which rises high on the hillside back of the
town, has an ancient history and was a vast foundation to which
references are continually met with in history. To-day it is a
hydropathic establishment for semi-invalids and devotees of bridge and
tea parties.
The Carmelite church contains some richly carved sixteenth-century
monuments, now somewhat mutilated, but very beautiful.
The _Templehof_ perpetuates the fact that it was the Knights Templars of
Boppart who first mounted the breach at the storming of Ptolemais in the
third crusade.
This completes the list of Boppart's ecclesiastical monuments.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW _of BOPPART_]
In the fourteenth century the town was a "free imperial city"; but,
following upon political dissension with its neighbours, it was returned
to the guardianship of the Archbishop of Trèves.
Previously it would appear that the inhabitants had not been very
religious, but the archbishop was able to induce them to build him a
château here as a place of temporary residence; "the first service,"
says the chronicle of the time, "which we have rendered our gracious
master."
[Illustration]
XX
LAACH AND STOLZENFELS
_Laach_
Back of Coblenz is the charming little lake of Laach, at the other end
of which is the picturesque but deserted abbey of Laach, one of the most
celebrated, architecturally and historically, of all the religious
edifices along the Rhine.
Once a Benedictine convent, it was pillaged and its inmates dispersed
during the overflow of the French Revolution, and is now naught but a
ruin, though in many respects a grandly preserved one.
The abbey was founded in 1093 by Henry II. of Laach, Count Palatine of
Lower Lorraine, and the first Count Palatine of the Rhine.
Its magnificent church, built in the most acceptable Gothic, contains
the remains of its founder and many nobles.
The monks of the abbey were, in the middle ages, greatly celebrated for
their knowledge of the sciences and their hospitality. Their library was
richly stored with bibliographical treasures, and they possessed a fine
collection of paintings. To-day the abbey and its dependencies is but a
shadow of its former self; its library and its picture-gallery have
disappeared, and, early in the nineteenth century, the establishment was
sold for a price so small that it would be a sacrilege to mention it.
[Illustration: ABBEY _of_ LAACH _in the Olden Time_]
_Stolzenfels_
The mention of the castle of Stolzenfels hardly suggests anything
churchly or devout, though those who know the history of this most
picturesque of all Rhine castles (restored though it be) know also that
it was an early foundation of Archbishop Arnold of Trèves in the
thirteenth century, and was, during the century following, the residence
of his successors.
Placed high upon its "_proud rock_," the restored fabric to-day
wonderfully resembles the castled-crag of one's imagination.
Archbishop Werner of Strasburg also made it his residence in turn, and
later the English princess betrothed to the Emperor Frederick II. of the
Hohenstaufen dynasty was entertained there.
The castle was nearly destroyed by the French in 1688, and in 1825 the
ruin was made over to the then prince royal, afterward King of Prussia.
Within the reconstructed walls, topped with a series of crenelated
battlements, after the true mediæval manner, one finds an ample
courtyard, from which lead the entrances to the various parts of the
vast fortress.
Innumerable apartments open out one from the other, all forming a great
museum filled with all manner of curios and relics.
In a corner of one great room was long kept (they may or may not be
there yet; the writer does not know) the Austrian and Swiss standards
taken in the Thirty Years' War.
[Illustration: STOLZENFELS]
There was also a cabinet containing the sabre of Murat, taken at
Waterloo; the sabres of Blucher, of Poniatowski, and Sobieski; and the
swords of the Duc d'Albe and De Tilly; and, incongruously enough, a
knife and fork said to have belonged to Andreas Hofer, the hero of the
Tyrol.
In the chamber of the king is a magnificent piece of ecclesiastical
furniture in the form of a processional cross said to date from the
eighth century.
The fine Gothic chapel is decidedly the gem of the whole fabric and its
accessories, and, though only finished in its completeness, during the
present day, it is a master copy of the best style of the Gothic era.
[Illustration]
XXI
ANDERNACH AND SINZIG
_Andernach_
Andernach is one of the oldest cities in the Rhine valley, and grew up
out of one of Drusus's camps, which was built here when the town was
known as _Antonacum_.
This was its early history, as given by Ammien Marcellin; and a later
authority mentions it as the second city of the electorate of Trèves
(_Die Andre Darnach_).
In the records of Drusus's time, there is a reference to a château here,
which was the fiftieth he had built upon the banks of the Rhine.
The kings of Austrasia had their palace here as well, so the place
became a political and strategic city of very nearly the first rank.
In the middle ages Andernach shone brilliantly among the centres of
commerce in the Rhine valley.
Charles V. was responsible for a battle between the inhabitants of Linz
and those of Rhieneck and Andernach, in which nearly all the latter were
massacred.
To soften any hard feeling that might still exist, a sermon was always
preached, up to the last century, in the market-place, on St.
Bartholomew's Day, urging the people to forgive their enemies. The
records tell, however, that on one occasion an unfortunate inhabitant of
Linz was discovered in Andernach, and that he was forthwith put to death
in most unchristianlike fashion.
The Gate of Coblenz at Andernach is generally regarded as an ancient
Roman work, though not of the monumental order usual in works of its
kind.
The present fortifications date from the fifteenth century, as does the
picturesque watch-tower by the waterside.
With Andernach is identified the tradition of a Count Palatine, who,
returning from the Holy Wars, was persuaded by a false friend that his
lady had proved faithless; and, without listening to excuse, drove her
forth to the woods. In the forest she found shelter with her youthful
son, lodging in caves and living on fruits and herbs for many years. One
day her husband, having lost his companions in the chase, came by
accident upon her place of concealment. The wife of his bosom, carefully
nurtured in her youth, but now living unattended in the wilds, and his
son, now grown into a fine youth, excited his pity. Listening to the
truth, he took home the innocent victims of perfidy, and retaliated upon
the traducer by hanging him from the highest tower of his castle. After
her death, the countess became St. Genofeva, and is the patroness of the
parish church of St. Genevieve, which is a lofty structure with four
towers which rise high above the surrounding buildings in a fashion
which would be truly imposing were the church less overornamented in all
its parts.
[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW _of ANDERNACH_]
The actual foundation of the church dates from Carlovingian times, and a
tenth-century church is visibly incorporated into the present fabric,
but in the main the present structure is of the thirteenth century.
The façade, as is the case with most of the Romano-Byzantine churches on
the Rhine, is flanked by two fine towers, showing some slight traces of
the incoming ogival style.
Flanking the apside are two other towers, somewhat heavier and
thoroughly Romanesque in motive.
The southern doorway is surrounded by a series of remarkably elaborate
and excellent sculptures, showing delicate foliage, birds, and human
figures disposed after the best manner of the Romanesque. The northern
doorway is decorated in a similar manner, with an elaborate grouping of
two angels and the paschal lamb in the tympanum. To the right of this
portal is a curious coloured bas-relief set in the wall. It represents
the death of the Virgin, and dates from the early sixteenth century.
The interior is divided into three naves by two ranges of pillars,
square and very short. The arcades between the aisles and the nave are
rounded, but the vaulting is ogival.
The second range of pillars forms an arcade quite similar to the lower
one, but the pillars are of black marble. A modern balustrade, which has
been added, is frightful in its contrast with the more ancient
constructive details.
Above all are six windows on a side, which in plan and proportions
resemble those of the side aisles.
The choir is in effect a cul-de-four, and is lighted by five windows
placed rather high up. Below are a series of niches, in which are placed
modern statues, about as bad as can be imagined, even in these
degenerate architectural times.
The gallery behind the second tier of columns is known as the
_mannshaus_, being intended for the male portion of the congregation,
the women sitting below.
The pulpit came from the old abbey of Laach.
On the left of the grand nave is the tomb of a knight of Lahnstein, who
died in 1541.
There is another legend connected with Andernach which may well be
recounted here.
One day, during the minority of the Emperor Henry IV., the tutors of the
prince, the proud Archbishop Annon of Cologne and the Palatine, Henry
the Furious, held a meeting with certain other seigneurs at Andernach.
The same day the inhabitants of Güls, a village near Coblenz, lodged a
complaint before the Palatine concerning the exactions of the provost of
their village. This last, himself, followed the deputies, magnificently
clothed and mounted upon a richly caparisoned horse, counting upon his
presence to counteract the impression they might make. Among the
collection of wild beasts which had been gathered together for the
amusement of the princes was a ferocious bear. When the provost passed
near him, the animal sprang upon him and tore him to pieces, whereupon
it was supposed that the venerable archbishop had exercised a divine
power, and delivered up the oppressor to the fury of a wild beast. Like
most of the Rhine legends, it is astonishingly simple in plot, and
likewise has a religious turn to it, which shows the great respect of
the ancient people of these regions toward their creed.
_Sinzig_
Between Andernach and Bonn is the tiny city of Sinzig, famous for two
things,--its charmingly disposed parish church and the wines of
Assmanhaus.
The town was the ancient Sentiacum of the Romans, constructed in all
probability by Sentius, one of the generals of Augustus.
The church at Sinzig, in company with St. Quirinus at Neuss, has some of
the best mediæval glass in Germany.
This small, but typically Rhenish, parish church has also a series of
polychromatic decorations which completely cover its available wall
space.
There is a vividness about them which may be pleasing to some, but
which will strike many as being distinctly unchurchly.
[Illustration: _Sinzig_]
As a Christian edifice, the church at Sinzig, with its central tower and
spire, is only remarkable as typifying the style of Romano-ogival
architecture which developed so broadly in the Rhine valley at the
expense of the purer Gothic.
XXII
TRÈVES
Southwesterly from Coblenz, between the Rhine and Metz, is Trèves, known
by the Germans as Trier. Situated at the southern end of a charming
valley, which more or less closely follows the banks of the Moselle, it
has the appearance of being a vast park with innumerable houses and
edifices scattered here and there through the foliage. The city contains
many churches, of which the cathedral of St. Pierre et Ste. Hélène is
the chief.
At one time the _Augusta Trevirorum_ of the Romans was "the richest, the
most fortunate, the most glorious, and the most eminent of all the
cities north of the Alps," said an enthusiastic local historian.
The claim may be disputed by another whose civic pride lies elsewhere,
but all know that Trèves, as the flourishing capital of the _Gaulois
belges_, actually rivalled Rome itself.
Augustus established a Roman colony here with its own Senate, and many
of the Roman emperors of the long line which followed made it their
residence during their sojourn in the north.
From the Augusta Trevirorum of the Romans, the city became in time,
under the later Empire, Treviri, from which the present nomenclature of
Trèves and Trier comes. It was one of the sixty great towns which were
taken from the Romans by the Franks and the Alemanni.
The Roman bridge over the Moselle, built probably by Agrippa, existed
until the wars of Louis XIV., in 1669, when it was blown up; and all
that now remains of the original work are the foundations of the piers,
which were built upon anew in the eighteenth century.
As a bishopric, and later as an archbishopric, the see is the most
ancient in Germany, having been founded in 327 by the Empress Hélène.
In the twelfth century it became an archbishopric and an electorate, but
during the fourteenth century, because of continual struggles between
the municipality and the Church, the archbishops removed to Coblenz.
In the cathedral rests the Holy Coat of Trèves, one of the most sacred
relics of the Saviour extant, and supposedly the veritable garment worn
by him at the crucifixion,--the seamless garment for which the soldiers
cast lots (John xix. 23, 24).
When exposed to public view, which ceremony used to take place only once
in thirty years, the holy robe is placed upon the high altar, which has
previously been dressed for the occasion. The altar is approached by
many steps on each side, and there are several steps at intervals in the
aisles, so that the appearance of the long line of pilgrims on their way
down the side aisles and up to the altar is most picturesque. As many as
twenty thousand pilgrims are said to have paid their devotions to this
relic in a single day. They come in processions of hundreds, and
sometimes thousands; and are of all classes, but mostly peasants. The
lame, the blind, and the sick are included in their ranks, and it is
noticeable that the majority are women. They are constantly arriving,
pouring in at several gates of the city in an almost continual stream,
accompanied by priests, banners, and crosses, and alternately singing
and praying. There are many of them heavily laden, their packs on their
backs, their bright brass pans, pitchers, and kettles of all shapes in
their hands, or slung on their arms, while their fingers are busily
employed with their beads. Wayworn and footsore, fatigued and hungry,
they yet pursue their toilsome march, intent upon the attainment of the
one object of their pilgrimage. It is curious and picturesque to see
their long lines of processions in the open country, wending their slow
way over the hills, and to hear their hymns, mellowed by distance into a
pleasant sound across the broad Rhine. From Germany, Belgium, Holland,
France, Hungary, and even Switzerland and Italy they come, and during
the whole of their journeys the pilgrims sing and pray almost
continually. The accomplishment of their pilgrimages entitles them, by
payment of a small offering, to certain absolutions and indulgences. The
pure-minded peasant girl seeks remission of sins, the foodless peasant a
liberty to eat what the expenses of this pilgrimage will perhaps deprive
him of the means of obtaining. The city is literally packed with
pilgrims, and the scene in the market-place at nightfall is in the
highest degree interesting and picturesque.
"The Holy Coat of Trèves" is a simple tunic, apparently of linen or
cotton, of a fabric similar to the closely woven mummy-cloth of the
Egyptians. Undoubtedly it is of great antiquity, which many sacred
_reliques_ may or may not be, judging from their appearances. In
appearance it is precisely the same as is that worn by the modern Arab.
This form of tunic, then, has come down from the ages with but little
change in the fashions, and seems to be worn by all classes in the East.
In colour the relic may originally have been blue, though now of course
it is much faded; in fact, is a rusty brown.
The history of this holy robe, according to a Professor Marx, who wrote
an account of it which had the approval of the Archbishop of Trèves, is
authenticated as far back as 1157 by written testimony, it having been
mentioned as then existing in the cathedral of Trèves by Frederick I. in
a letter addressed to Hillen, Archbishop of Trèves in that year. Its
earliest history depends wholly on tradition, which says that it was
obtained by the Empress Hélène in the year 326, while in the Holy Land,
whither she went for the express purpose of obtaining relics of our
Saviour and his followers; that she gave it to the see of Trèves, and
that it was deposited in the cathedral of that city; that it was
afterward lost, having been hidden in disturbed times within the walls
of the cathedral, and rediscovered under the Archbishop John I., in
1196; that it was again hidden for the same reason, brought to light,
and exposed to the wondering multitude in 1512, on the occasion of the
famous Diet of Trèves, under the Emperor Maximilian. "Since this last
epoch," says the author of the work already quoted, "the history of the
Holy Robe has been often discussed, written, and sung, because it has
been often publicly exposed, and at short intervals, whenever political
troubles have not prevented."
At Trèves is an ancient tomb to Cardinal Ivo, with heavily sculptured
capitals surmounting four small columns, whose pedestals are crouching
lions. But for the crudity of the sculpture, and the weird beasts at its
base, one might almost think the tomb a Renaissance work.
The cardinal died in 1142, and the work is unquestionably of the
Romanesque period. It is reminiscent, moreover, of the southern portal
of the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Embrun in the south of France; indeed,
a drawing of one might well pass for the other were it not labelled,
though to be sure there is a distinct difference in detail.
Among the treasures of Trèves is a censer, one of the most elaborate
ever devised. It is in the form of an ample bowl, with its cover worked
in silver in the form of a church on the lines of a Greek cross. The
device is most unusual, but rather clumsily ornate.
There are two curious statues in the portal of Notre Dame; one
representing the Church and the other the synagogue; the one with a
clear, straightforward look in her eyes, the other blindfolded and with
the crown falling from her head. The symbol is frequently met with, but
the method of indicating the opposition of the new religious law to that
of the old is, in these life-size statues, at Trèves, perhaps unique.
The figures are somewhat mutilated, each lacking the arms, but in other
respects they stand as originally conceived.
The cathedral of St. Pierre et Ste. Hélène is situated in the most
elevated portion of the city, and, like the cathedral at Bonn, above
Cologne, presents that curious pyramidal effect so often remarked in
Rhenish churches.
There is no very great beauty in the outlines of this church, which is a
curious jumble of towers and turrets; but there are some very good
architectural details, quite worthy of a more splendid edifice. Ste.
Hélène, the mother of Constantine, herself placed the first stone in the
easterly portion of the present church, a fact which was only discovered
in the seventeenth century, when the foundations were being repaired. It
is supposed originally to have been a part of the palace of the Empress
Hélène, afterward converted into a house of God.
[Illustration: TRÈVES CATHEDRAL]
One notes in the interior a remarkably beautiful series of Corinthian
columns with elaborately carved capitals of the eleventh century. In
later years these have been flanked by supporting pillars which detract
exceedingly from the beauty of the earlier forms.
In parts the edifice is frankly French Gothic, Byzantine, and what we
know elsewhere as Norman,--a species of the Romanesque.
In 1717 the church suffered considerably by fire, but it was repaired
forthwith, and to-day gives the effect of a fairly well cared for
building of three naves and a double choir.
There are sixteen altars, some of which are modern, and two organs,
cased as usual in hideous mahogany.
[Illustration: PULPIT TRÈVES]
The high altar and the pulpit are excellently sculptured, and there are
some notable monuments to former archbishops and electors.
Beneath the church are vast subterranean passages, and a great vault
where repose the ancient regents of the province.
Architecturally, Trèves's other remarkable church (Notre Dame) quite
rivals the cathedral itself in interest. It is one of the best examples
of German mediæval architecture extant.
In the year 1227 when St. Gérêon's at Cologne, one of the earliest
examples of ogival vaulting in Germany, was just finished, there was
commenced the church of Notre Dame at Trèves. It was the first church
edifice in Germany to consistently carry out the Gothic motive from the
foundation stones upward.
For fifty years the well-defined Gothic had been knocking at the gateway
which led from France into Germany, and at last it was to enter at a
period when the cathedrals at Soissons and Laon had already established
themselves as well-nigh perfect examples of the new style.
The first foundation stone was laid in 1227, and the work was completed
in less than twenty years. The general plan is grandiose and it has a
central cupola--replacing a tower which was in danger of subsiding--held
aloft by twelve hardy columns, on which are ranged in symmetrical order
statues of the apostles.
The plan is unusual and resembles no Gothic structure elsewhere, hence
may be considered as a type standing by itself.